Cruise of the Revenue Steamer Corwin in Alaska and the N.W. Arctic Ocean in 1881. Notes and Memoranda: Medical and Anthropological; Botanical; Ornithological
Washington: James Anglin & Co., 1883.
First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 4to, 120 pp, with 12 plates (9 in color). Original black cloth, title stamped in gilt on front board. Rubbing to extremities; binding sound, text and plates very clean. Between June and October 1881, the Corwin cruised the waters north and west of the Bering Strait searching for the Jeannette (which had departed San Francisco in July 1879 in an attempt to reach the North Pole via the Strait) and two missing whaling vessels. The ship also carried a scientific party, including John Muir, who later chronicled the expedition in The Cruise of the Corwin (1917). This volume provides the first reports on the scientific and anthropological studies conducted on the expedition. Rosse's account includes much detail on the native populations, including the diseases that afflicted them, effects of alcohol and climate, diet, linguistics, costume, and intelligence. Muir's botanical notes provide simple lists of plants found at each of 12 locations visited. Nelson's article on birds provides an annotated list of 192 species. Several of the color plates, particularly the birds and an image of two tatooed men, are quite striking. Arctic Bib. 13899; Kimes 160; Wickersham 7594.
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